This is the world’s first solar-powered airport – in India’s sunny Kerala

Warm and sunny India took its time to embrace solar power. Three times sunnier than Germany, it lagged behind while the colder European nation took the lead in solar power. But now, the tiger has emerged into the sunlight.

The Cochin International airport in the southern state of Kerala has become the world’s first fully solar-powered airport. It has a 12 MWp (megawatt peak) solar power plant, with 46,150 solar panels laid across 45 acres. This will generate 50,000 to 60,000 thousand units of electricity every day.

This airport is also the first in India to be built in a public–private partnership model. It is owned by a public limited company called Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL), floated by the government of Kerala in 1994. The state government holds a 33.36 percent stake in it, while non-resident Indians and individual investors own 38.03 percent stake. The rest is held by various companies.

It’s just been two years since the airport made the first move towards green energy by installing a 100 kWp (kilowatt peak) solar plant on the rooftop of its arrival terminal.

“Over the next 25 years, this green power project will avoid carbon dioxide emissions from coal-fired power plants by more than 300,000 metric tons, which is equivalent to planting three million trees,” according to an official statement from the airport authorities.

Solar power has a bright future in India. Indian prime minister Narendra Modi has set ambitious targets of 100GW solar and 60GW wind power targets for India by 2022. Japanese telco SoftBank, Indian telco Bharti, and Taiwanese electronics manufacturer Foxconn have formed a fund named SBG Cleantech that will back cleantech startups as well as bid for solar plant tenders ‎under the National Solar Mission program and state-specific solar programs.